I love outdoor ambulatory theater. I'm not sure if there's anyone who does it besides TigerLion Arts. There's definitely no one who does it better. I first fell in love with their outdoor walking play Nature, about the life, work, and friendship of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in 2014, and have seen it every chance I get (5 times total, in different locations). Then in 2023 I saw the remount of the piece that predated Nature - The Buddha Prince, celebrating the life of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan culture. Now they're adding a new outdoor theatrical experience to their repertoire - Big World, with a workshop performance this weekend only at Theodore Wirth Regional Park on the West side of Minneapolis. This one has less of a throughline narrative story than the other two pieces, and is perhaps geared more towards children, although all of their work can truly be enjoyed by people of all ages. The theme of a group of scientists trying to save the world with love (what a concept!) is the loose structure that provides a framework and an excuse for being in Nature, being in community, and laughing at the things humans have laughed at since the beginning of time. If you're free tonight or tomorrow night, I highly recommend you head out to Theodore Wirth on this perfect spring weekend to experience the joy. And follow TigerLion Arts for updates on the future of this piece, as well as (hopefully) a return of Nature.
The show begins inside the pavilion on the hill, after some pre-show music and shenanigans outside. An in-the-round stage is set up inside, where we're introduced to five scientists from different countries (which allows for some fun accents) who have found through their research that love is the most powerful force, because it has no limits, and can be used to save humanity from all of the fear, hatred, and violence we are plagued with (and wow do we need it). After a brief summary of the history of humanity and where it went wrong, they try to explode their "love bomb" to unleash love upon the world, but it doesn't quite go as planned. Then someone throws a small red ball into the space, and we're off chasing it around the park. We follow the performers to two different locations in the park, via paved path, with the red ball appearing, disappearing, shrinking, expanding. Until eventually we're led back to the pavilion, where a young boy reminds us what love really is, and the whole thing devolves into one big joyous dance line.
TigerLion Arts' co-Artistic Director Markell Kiefer directs the piece and created it with the ensemble - Tyson Forbes (the other Artistic Director), Sarah Agnew, Kenzi Allen, Benjamin Domask-Ruh, and Kate Tobie. They're all so incredibly playful as these delightfully odd and specific characters, totally at ease with the unpredictable nature of this sort of theater as they mingle with the audience traversing the park, dressed in cute colorful clothing (designed by Sarah Bahr). The performance style leans heavily into commedia dell'arte - clowning, physical comedy, and exaggerated expressions and emotions. The use of physicality and movement (choreographed by Kimberly Richardson) is vital to the storytelling and so much fun to watch. This is the kind of comedy, people throwing balls at each other, falling down, slight of hand, that always has been and always will be funny, in its simplicity and its expression of the things that connect all humans.
TigerLion Arts partnered with several other organizations on this piece - Circus Juventus provided a couple of clowns on unicycles and stilts, The Brass Messengers provide the music, and Big Animal Productions (aka Chris Lutter-Gardella) created the most amazing puppet of, you guessed it, a big animal. Keep your eyes peeled when you're in the woods, there are some big and potentially scary creatures about.
Big World definitely fits in with Nature and The Buddha Prince, and feels like the joyful community healing experience the world desperately needs. Not that we can solve the world's many problems by throwing a ball around in a park, but maybe it can remind us of our humanity, our connection to each other, and our connection to Nature. Perhaps my favorite moment was when the ensemble led us in a singalong, just a few repeated wordless notes, and we were all one in the music and the trees and the setting sun. Watch a brief snippet of the magic below:
